Two Mages, One Love
by lionessoftherealworld
Summary: Daine and Numair after the end of the realms of the gods. old reviewers, PLEASE come back! new one and flames welcomed too, though!
1. Chapter 1

A/N... I just want to say hi to all my old reviewers...my first story in a while. Since I've become a bit bored with Alanna and George after the end of their books, here comes Daine and Numair! I'm hyper right now due to my happiness at the arrival of my "Mrs. George Cooper" t-shirt, so excuse my super-strangeness! Bon Appetite! (In other words, devour my story!)

As Numair and Daine walked down the incline towards their friends, they were silent. Added to the relief of holding their loved ones close to them was the looming threat of disapproval from their comrades.

They finally reached Onua and the rest and gratefully accepted the bread and water that was offered to them. They sat down on the ground and devoured the bread in what must have been less than a second, leaving the others staring, dumbfounded, at them. Numair and Daine glanced at each other, trying to fight the laughter bubbling up in their throats. Unfortunately, even the only Wildmage and most powerful mage in the world were incapable of stopping the uncontrollable urge to roll on the ground, shaking violently in giggles, and so they did. Just that sight was enough to cause all the most powerful nobles and warriors to do the same, reminding everyone of why we love Tortall so much.

The group of intensely strange Tortallans stopped rolling over each other and giggling contagiously when their lovely and wonderful sovereign(a/n anyone catch the sarcasm?) came up to them carrying a scroll with a worried expression.

"Daine and Numair?" he said, frowning. "I regret to tell you this, but... they need you. At the Swoop. Some Stormwings are revolting, extremely, and they're convinced only you two can stop them."

Onua protested. "But they're not nearly strong enough! They need to rest for at least a week!"

"It's mandatory!" replied Jonathon.

Numair smiled sadly. "It's okay. We'll manage."

He smiled at Daine, and she smiled back. The others looked confused, like they knew that they were not being told something, but they let it alone...for the moment, at least.

"Well, if you don't mind, me and Daine need to rest tonight, at least. We will see you tomorrow morning."

They walked off, holding hands, and Jonathon called after them, "Bear in mind that it's an extremely dangerous mission!"

"Nice one, mister let them be calm," muttered Alanna. Jonathon didn't hear her and walked off, humming something sounding curiously like the song played for young children at the fair.

Numair, after a quick wash in the stream, was dressed in his bedclothes and tucked between the sheets on his cot when his tent flap was pulled open. About to let loose some magic, he recognized Daine and smiled. He stood up and walked over to her.

"What brings you here?" he asked, kissing her lightly on the lips.

"Something that only you can help me with. I can't sleep."

Numair frowned. "What, nightmares? I can easily fix that, would you like a potion or a charm?" he replied, moving toward his bags, which were stocked with magical herbs."

Daine grabbed his arm. "No, I think the problem is that I'm not with you."

Numair realized then and took her hand. He led her over to his cot, where they both sat down. "Well, I don't think we can properly sleep in the same tent without people starting rumors."

"Since when have we avoided rumors, you and I? Please?" Daine, perhaps from her experience in the role, had a strange talent for the puppy- dog pout, which was especially useful for use with Numair, who couldn't go against her in the first place.

"But my cot isn't nearly large enough for the both of us," replied Numair, starting on the logical factors of his resistance.

"I'm sure we'll manage."

Numair sighed with a mocking exasperation. "You win, as always."

"What else did you expect?" replied Daine, smiling.

Numair shook his finger at her playfully and made her stand up so that he could lie down. "Well, find a place to sleep." he said.

Daine suddenly had an idea. She smiled playfully. "Oh, I will," she replied, lying right on top of him. In most times, Numair would have considered this an uncomfortable position, but Daine was small, plus it was comforting just to be near her. Both of our favorite mages drifted off that night with smiles on their faces, content to be together.

George was woken the next morning by a frantic Alanna.

"Daine isn't in her tent!" she yelled, worried tremendously. "I went in there to get her up, and her cot was empty. It was cold, too, so no one could have slept there recently.

"Calm down, Alanna. We'll find her. Let's start by waking up Numair."

Alanna frowned, shaking her head. "No, don't wake Numair. He'd use up more magic than he can afford to lose, trying to find her. We'll wake up the rest."

So all the people of their group were shaken out of their slumbers to search for Daine. After an hour of search, George spoke up.

"Enough of this, already! I'm going to wake up Numair, he can find her," he cried, walking toward Numair's tent.

"Where else could she be?" asked Jon, looking devastated. "We need her to fight those Stormwings!"

"Shut the hell up, Jonathon!" yelled Alanna furiously. "Is that really the only damn thing you care about? Daine is our friend, your h-"

"Uh... everyone?" came George's voice from the opening to Numair's tent. He sounded amused. "You might want to have a look at this..."

"What could be so damn funny about Numair's t-" Alanna's voice drifted off as she looked inside the tent.

"Not so much the tent, but who's inside the tent," replied George to Alanna's unfinished question.

Numair and Daine woke to the faces of many amused nobles. Daine, realizing her position, blushed and sat up, slowly edging off of the cot. Numair, still half asleep, grumbled as her warmth left, and was sitting up to pull her back when he saw the many faces staring at him.

"Get a room!" jeered George, jokingly.

"That's what this was, before you decided to come in." mumbled Numair, definitely not the morning person.

"How 'bout we give you both ten minutes to prepare yourselves and then we get some questions answered." said Alanna with authority, clearly not expecting an answer.

The nobles had the good breeding to step a few feet away from the tent before erupting in laughter.


	2. Chapter 2

Daine and Numair, much less disheveled than when they were last seen, stood next to the woods, looking fully ashamed as Alanna bereaved them for not telling her.

When she finally took a breath, George stepped in. "Lass, they had ten minutes between coming back and sleeping. Be just a bit more patient, please dear?"

Alanna sighed. "So, how did this start anyway? You didn't just walk into his tent last night, did you?"

Daine blushed. "No, I didn't. It happened in the realms of the gods. I fell off a cliff and was captured by spidrens. They were too busy arguing amongst themselves about whether they should eat me or not to notice Numair, my knight in shining armor." Numair blushed at this, and Alanna laughed. "He killed the spidrens, and he was standing there looking devastated, and I was scared.."

"Well, I was afraid Daine was dead." interrupted Numair. "But I heard her say my name and I looked up to see her standing there, her curly hair all around her, like an angel." By now, all of the army camped near them was listening, and there was a collective "awwwwww", at which Daine jolted Numair out of his daydream by elbowing him, blushing fiercely. Nevertheless, Numair continued, "So she staggered over to me, and I kissed her, and here we are today."

Alanna was the first one to speak. "You haven't...done it...yet, have you?"

Daine looked positively mortified, as did Numair. "No!" she cried "Of course not!"

Alanna, now that she had finished questioning them, laughed. "Finally I get my twenty gold nobles from Jon. I told him you would come back as a couple, but nooo, Jon is always right." And with that she walked off to the camp tent where Jon, party-pooper he is, was studying battle plans.

Daine and Numair set off that day, Numair in his hawk form and Daine as a peregrine falcon. They enjoyed the journey to there, soaring through the air at an immense speed, but sobered as soon as they saw their beloved Pirate's Swoop. It was ravaged by battle and stunk of Stormwings. One of the towers of the castle was home to something resembling strangely to a nest, but much more revolting, as the base was made of bones and it was lined with skin. On an island not far away was their obvious problem: hundreds of stormwings were gathered in a huddle-like position.

Numair and Daine pulled into two immensely fast dives. When they reached the ground, they changed back to their human forms to discuss plans.

"I really don't know what to do." said Numair, dropping his false face of comfort to reveal his true feelings: utter confusion, "none of us have enough power. Maybe if it was combined, but otherwise, no."

Daine thought for a moment, then smiled. "I have a plan. I know of a way for us to combine power, actually more like one lends the other power." she explained the spell. "It's really quite simple."

"Well, if it's so simple, then why have none before us used it?"

"The thing is, the two people have to have a special bond, of love and complete trust, that most lack. But we have it, don't we?"

"Of course! So, now we have to decide who will lend their power."

"Me." replied Daine in a completely sure way. "You could make a net and trap them in it, then send them very, very far away."

"Alright, then. Shall we begin?"

And Daine touched his arm, softly muttering words. If they had not been so concentrated in their work, they would have been staring in awe at the globe surrounding them, an elaborate weave of copper and black. Soon a similar globe was encasing the stormwings, an unbreakable net. The net was thrown at amazing speed through the air and out of sight. The two mages fell on the ground, exhausted, each other their only comfort.


	3. Chapter 3

Numair Salmalin stood up, stretching out his long limbs. "What a day!" he thought, remembering his experience the previous afternoon.. Pirate's Swoop was back to it's previous splendor, with a sun beating down on him. He looked at the gorgeous young woman lying on the sand, her mouth slightly open, as it often was in slumber. He smiled, remembering how he knew that. He thought of the many times he had snuck into Daine's bedchamber, just to see the way her lips were slightly parted, the way her fingers were curled in, the way her thick curly hair fell over her eyes, those stormy gray eyes that he had fallen in love with at the first glance, those eyes that grew dark when she was angry, and became almost blue when she was content...

Those eyes opened, and that girl rubbed them, pushing off the soft blanket of sleep to stand up next to her teacher, friend, and lover. Those fingers curled around his much longer and rougher ones. That hair brushed against his shoulder as she rested her head there. Those lips smiled up at him before coming up to meet his. Those eyes shone as blue as they ever were.

Daine laughed at her lover as he looked disoriented. She loved being able to do that to someone with the slightest touch. She knew by that look and this feeling burning inside her that this was true love. At that moment, she knew something. She knew she was young, she knew she was not ready for marriage, but she also knew that the only man she would ever marry would be him, Numair.

"Numair?" she spoke. His head, with those amazing eyes and that wonderful, glorious smile, turned toward her. "I just want to say that...well, that Daine Salmalin sounds awful good."

His eyes widened. He opened his lips to speak, but she put her finger up to his lips to stop his speech. "For the future." she whispered. He nodded, looking slightly disappointed, but understanding. "But I still want you to be here with me until the future arrives," she whispered. He smiled at the girl who he loved more than anyone else and kissed her.

"As you wish, magelet," he replied, kissing her on her lightly freckled nose. "Now, what shall we do as we await the return of our powers?"

"I have a few ideas," replied Daine as she sat down, pulling Numair down with her. She pulled off her shoes, grabbed his hand and ran toward the ocean, towing him behind her. Numair pulled off his socks as he ran, tripping. Daine, upon reaching the ocean, dove in, especially thankful for her breeches in place of a skirt at this moment. Numair, after being tugged into the water with her, rose to his full six foot five, sputtering.

"What's the matter, old man?" yelled Daine. "Gonna let a girl half your age kick bubbles on you?"

Numair, accepting the challenge, swam to Daine, leaping on her. Daine, surprised, went under easily. Competitive now, she turned into a crab. She swam up to Numair, who was looking very confused at the moment, and pinched him right in the rear end. She turned back into a human in time to see his embarrassed blush.

Daine, hanging onto Numair's head, about to push him under, saw those eyes that always made her stare, and kissed the eyelids that they were nestled in. Next came those cheeks that had burned so fiercely a minute ago. By that time, Numair was kissing her back, desperately hanging onto her, as though afraid that he would lose her. Daine, needing more, pulled off Numair's soaked shirt and admired the muscles there. Numair, thinking that Daine would regret this, pulled away.

"Daine, you do realize that, once you give this gift away, there's no way to take it back. It don't want you to regret this happening."

"Numair," gasped Daine, "I've regretted one thing before in my life; that we weren't together sooner. My second regret would be to not be with you like this."

Numair, at this statement lost the last bit of self-control he had and let things continue.


End file.
